Fault
by August1
Summary: DG one shot ficlet fluff. OOC Draco, PG for language.


**A/n: This story isn't the best I've done, but it was fun nonetheless, and I hope that you have fun reading it.  And yes, Draco is extremely out of character, but who cares. I don't.**

"Fault"

            She wouldn't even look at him.  Not that they had been especially friendly before, mind you, but he missed the curious glances that she had thrown his way during mealtime.  Or in the halls of Hogwarts as they passed one another on their way to separate classes.  Or the way she had whispered the answer to a question in his ear in Advanced Healing, a course which he was particularly fond of, and a course that enrolled few people, due to its difficult and sometimes tedious nature.  After the first couple of months during fall term, he found that he looked forward to her intelligent input in class and realized that even the way she sniggered with her friends at his expense didn't bother him…he was just glad for the attention.  In fact, she had told a funny joke the other day, and he had actually chuckled and told her to grow up, and called her "Red."

            But now…nothing.  In the last few weeks, she hadn't so much as told him to sod off.  She didn't turn her head to him and cock it to one side when he had a correct answer.  She was still outgoing with her friends at her table, but now she sat with her back to his house.  And every time he passed her and she didn't acknowledge him, his heart sank.  It _wasn't a spectacular feeling.  In fact, it—_

            "Draco!  Hey, Malfoy!" He snapped his head toward the voice that demanded his attention.  It was Flint, his ugly teeth accenting his sneer.  

            "Flint, if you even think about it," 

            "Malfoy, don't start.  I don't know what you're daydreaming about over there, but stop being a girl!  The snitch has flown by you six times already!"  Draco swore and whirled his head about, frantically searching for the tiny golden ball and resisting making a very rude hand gesture to the Hufflepuff crowd, who was laughing at him.  Then the laughter turned to a roar, and he knew that it was pointless.  Henry Adams, Hufflepuff's newest seeker, already held the snitch in his hand.  

            And it was all her fault.  

            ~  ~  ~  

            It was late.  She knew she'd find him there, down in the enchanted garden at the edge of the forbidden forest.  He went there every night, really….and she always followed him.  She couldn't explain it.  She didn't want to understand it.  She just felt a need to keep an eye on him…to make sure that he was safe…and then there was the fact that Dumbledore had set up the watch to make sure that the Order knew what he was doing at all times.  Why _she had to be the one assigned to him for the evenings, she'd never know.  _

            She did know that Ron still suspected him of killing their parents, as a Death Eater initiation or something stupid like that.  But she knew better.  She resisted speaking to him in Advanced Healing so word wouldn't get back to Ron that she was "fraternizing with the enemy," to keep the peace.  

She shifted under the invisibility cloak to make sure that she was completely covered.  Malfoy had almost discovered her last week.  She had stepped on a twig and his concentration vanished and his eyes had snapped around the premises.  He didn't stay there, of course, but left immediately.  Tonight, she took extra special care in reaching the garden, tip-toeing all the way, never expecting a break in routine.  When she finally came up over the last hill, she was shocked to see that Malfoy wasn't in his sanctuary!  She turned in a circle quickly to scan for a sign of him, but she turned _too quickly and her ankle bent, and she fell to the ground with an unceremonious thud, the cloak slipping off of her head and torso as she went downward._

"Shit!" She screamed.  Her ankle throbbed, and, biting her lower lip, she gingerly touched the area to see if it was broken.  It wasn't, but it was badly sprained.  She tried to get to her feet but her injury wouldn't support her weight, and her butt met loudly with the dirt again.  

"It's your own fault, Red."  Ginny jumped at the sound of the smooth baritone and was scared.  Suddenly, Draco Malfoy's head appeared in the air in front of her, and then the rest of him, as he gracefully uncovered his lithe body from his invisibility cloak.  She set her chin, and grabbed her wand.  She had it out and pointed at him before he could blink.  

"Now, why are you intent upon harming me?  It was you that disturbed _my_ peace last week, and I'm sure that you've been trespassing for months now," He continued.

"W-why are you so sure that it's been me?" she asked.  "Besides, it's not trespassing, you don't own the garden."

"Why are you stuttering, little Weasley?  There's nothing to be scared of.  I'm not going to hurt you."  He moved over to her and crouched down in front of her ankle.  She followed his move with her gaze, and, when he turned his face to her, she replied.

"I'm not scared, you prat, just in a great deal of pain!" She tried being harsh, but it was impossible.  Instead of staring him down, she was just realizing that the grey in his eyes was really quite unusual, and beautiful, especially when enhanced by the combination of the fairy lights and the gentle bath of light from the moon.  He smirked, and she looked away quickly, not failing to note that his shoulders were very broad and muscular, evident through his black silk shirt.  

Draco wasn't oblivious to her admiration.  It made his heart swell, in fact.  He noticed her beauty a long time ago, but now, even while she was vulnerable and  incapacitated, he had to try hard to keep from telling her so.  He took a breath.  

"I'm going to ignore the fact that you're staring at me and I'm going to help you up," Draco stated, trying to look mischievous, but there was something in his voice that Ginny couldn't quite put her finger on.  

"I can't stand on it," she stated.

"Maybe it's just as well."  He crawled from his position at her feet over to where he was level with her shoulders and sat.  He knew that he had to get answers.  But she spoke first.

"Why aren't you hexing me or something?"  He chuckled.

"Do you want me to?" he asked.

"No," she said, shocked for a moment, but calmed when she noticed…was that _mirth in his eyes?_

"Why have you been following me?"  He was blunt, but gentle with his words, as though a small child would ask why the sky is blue, or why the butterflies have colored wings.  He was merely curious.  So she said the first thing that she thought of.  
            "You killed my parents."  

"You don't believe that."

"How do _you know?"_

"Because you would have hexed me to hell and back already," he said simply.  

"But I…Well, you see…Actually…Oh damn it.  You're right," She allowed herself to chuckle.  But she realized that she had to make something up…she couldn't just say, _Well, Draco, I'm part of the Order, and I have to make sure that you're not a Death Eater, and if you are, then I have to spy on you to try and decipher your next move.  Nope.  That wouldn't work. So she made up the first thing that popped into her head._

"I like you, see, and I was trying to, uh, just watch you for a while, uh, you know, find out what you like and, uh, stuff."  Her eyes chanced the flicker up to see into his, and he just stared at her for a moment, incredulous, and threw back his head and laughed.

"That, my dear, was the most pathetic excuse for a…well…an excuse that I have EVER heard.  Just so you know," he was grinning.  Draco Malfoy was _grinning and Ginny's face burned.  Niiiiiiiiiiiiiice.  _

"It's my business, anyhow," she mumbled.  

"And I will let it be your business," he conceded.  

"Why?" She could have smacked herself, he was letting her off easily, and she had to ask him, why?  "Nevermind," she said.  

"No!  I don't mind!  I, uh, I want to explain some things to you, Ginny Weasley.  No!  No protests."  He took a breath and looked down at his hands.  "First and foremost, I am NOT a Death Eater, I did not k-k-kill your parents…but I did kill the one who did."  

Silence.

He chanced a look at her face, and caught her hastily wiping a tear away.  

"I'm not under my father's control, and I'm tired of being nasty to people.  Honestly, it's draining.  Did you know that it takes _more_ muscles to frown than to smile?"  Ginny managed a small upturn of the corners of her lips.

"I even smiled when I shouted the killing curse at Beatrix LeStrange.  I was _glad_ to exact revenge on her for what she did to you," he started.  "Ok, you and…your family.  No one should have to lose their parents unless they are better off without them!"  Draco paused and drew a sharp breath.  

"I-I don't know what to say, actually," Ginny confessed.  "Why hasn't Dumbledore said anything to us?  I mean, if this is true, then you didn't deserve that broken nose that Ron gave you last month…"

"Thanks," Draco conceded wryly.

"…and you would have been looked upon like…like…some kind of hero of some sort!"

"_Not like Potter, please, don't say anything about me being like Potter.  __That is why I didn't wish anyone to know.  Up until that moment, as Dumbledore later revealed to me, I was under surveillance…by _you_ of all people!"  _

Ginny's eyes narrowed.

"Not that I didn't have reason to be afraid for my life, you know!" he tried to amend, contorting his face in mock fear.  Ginny laughed and socked him on the shoulder but ceased laughing when she realized what she had done…she slowly drew her fist in front of her face and stared at it, blankly…_She just hit MALFOY.  Oh, shit._

"Shit?  What do you mean, shit?"  Ginny gulped.  "Don't be afraid of me, Red.  I'm not going to hurt you," he said in a brisk voice.  He looked her in the eye while he made that statement, and realized that it sounded more like a promise. Her eyes were wide and questioning, as though she had perceived the hidden message but not quite understood why it had been made.  He cleared his throat.

"Well, Red, you sorely, desperately need help getting to the hospital wing," he rose to his knees, "So let me help you, and don't wave me off like I've seen you do to your brothers!"  She placed both palms on the ground to brace her good leg as she tried to stand up, but he beat her to the punch and bent, gathering her into his arms and lifting her up.  He stifled a chuckle at her surprise and waited for her protest.  Either the dim light was playing tricks on his eyes, or that really was gentle compliance in her face.  She even relaxed her mouth into a smile that made him feel uncomfortable…like all of his insides were taking the elevator from his midsection to his feet.  He stood, looking at her for a few minutes as she turned red and tucked her face against his chest as she did with her dad, hiding it.

"That," Draco spoke hoarsely, "was quite possibly the cutest thing I have ever seen."  

She certainly wasn't expecting that.  But he felt her grin against his shoulder.

"Let's get you back to the castle."  

Draco shifted Ginny in his arms, and carried her back across the grounds to the protection of the infirmary and toward the puzzle of what would become of the words exchanged this night.


End file.
